Stealing Light
by HardRiRi
Summary: Darien has been called out of retirement of being a thief. What's the job? Stealing a diamond from the Royal Crown Jewels of England. It's quite a tall order. As he goes on this lengthy journey, he ends up stealing something else: his partner's heart...
1. Chapter 1

Hey all! New story I'm trying my hand at! I hope you all enjoy it. I'll be titling all of the chapters after Snow Patrol songs (for some reason it feels right). ^_^

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters or any products mentioned in this chapter

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**Chapter 1: Spitting Games**

Darien sauntered up to the balcony with a glass of sparkling seltzer, lemon zest, and the best vodka money could buy. He had snagged the greatest treasure of them all; an heiress by name of Adrianna Simons. She was completely, fully, and one-hundred and twenty-five percent in love with him. He couldn't necessarily say the same for himself, but hey, you gotta retire sometime. He sipped his drink as he felt the brisk wind flutter across his bare chest. His said fiancée was out at some charity ball. Normally, this would be something that he would have gladly gone to, but not in the way that you're probably thinking. Yes he would wear black, but not a tuxedo. And he would smile, however it would not be at other attendees. He would be donned in all black so that no one could see him in the alley way, sneaking in through a small hole on the side. He would smile when he got a hold of sparkling jewels, a bag full of cash, or a famous painting. Don't get the wrong impression here; Darien is no thief. No, he's a mastermind. He gets paid thousands, millions even, to go into vaults of the rich and famous and steal thing _back_. He was once even paid by two elderly women to steal the same blue sapphire and diamond necklace back and forth between the two; he had turned into a ping pong ball, returning it to the "original" owner. He was only able justify all of this by determining that no true object belonged to anyone; everything was free, but it all had a price.

But that was the old Dairen. The new one … was bored.

"Honey!"

He sighed, put on a fake smile and turned around to find his drunk fiancée stumbling into the darkly lit bedroom. Before he could even say hello to her, she flopped down onto the Chanel bedspread, face first and immediately started snoring. He rolled his eyes at the disgusting sight in front of him; this was a normal occurrence, in case you were wondering. Downing the rest of his drink he started to stroll into the bedroom when he suddenly felt someone tap him on the back. He turned around to find a familiar face and body crouched on the thick cement railing.

"Hello Serena," he grinned.

She adjusted her black clothed body and sat down comfortably on the balcony rail, crossing her slender legs seductively in front of him. You didn't think he did all of this stealing on his own, did you? Well, he had a helping hand in every break in he had conducted in the past. Although he was considered a retired bandit, he was still in contact with some of his fellow burglars. Thus why Serena was sitting on the edge of his penthouse balcony.

"Who are you following tonight?" he asked her.

"You," she smiled.

"I don't have any money. I think you're looking for my future wife," Darien informed her, gesturing to the passed out drunk on the bed.

"No, no. It's _you_ I'm after," she insisted.

With each new question he asked, he took a step toward her, closing the gap between them.

"Are you here to assassinate me?"

"Nope."

"Are you here to seduce me?"

"Maybe…"

"Do you miss me?"

"My job is harder now that you're gone."

"Well what do you want from me?"

By now, the space between them had completely disappeared and Serena was running her fingers through his silky hair. The two of them studied one another silently, both of them knowing that the sexual tension was rising faster and faster. Their history is a bit too much to explain right now, but it will all be unveiled soon enough. Let's watch what happens, shall we?

"I want you to come out of retirement," she said as she continued to play with his hair. "Jesus, your hair is so soft…. What do you use for shampoo? Liquid silk?"

"Stop," he breathed, removing her hand from his head and stepping back. He took a sip of the final drops of his drink. "I'm not going back. Why did you bother coming here?"

"I thought asking you face to face would work a lot better than a text or Facebook message," she winked.

"I'm not gonna do it!" he whispered loudly, trying not wake up his fiancée.

"Don't even try to be quiet. Ami drugged your girl before she came in," she waved off. "She's knocked out until the morning."

"You're crazy!"

"It's why were able to work together, no?" she replied coyly as she stood up to her feet on the railing, getting ready to climb back down to the sidewalk below. "Listen, there will be a package filled with all of the information needed tomorrow. You can decide then. Don't be so hasty to decline. I know you miss it. You've only been gone for a year."

"Serena—"

But he couldn't argue with her; she had leapt off the balcony, back flipping in the air and bouncing off of the building so that she could land on her feet on the grass like a cat. He looked over at her down below and waved goodbye as she went jogging along the street to the black SUV that was waiting for her. Darien shook his head in disbelief and then finally was able to turn around to make it into his bedroom. He flipped the lights off, stripped down to his boxer-briefs, and slid under the sheets. He glanced at his fiancée quickly, thought that maybe he should undress her, but then decided against it.

The next morning, he awoke to find his lover missing from his side. The woman had already gotten showered, dressed, and was off to tend to her business – yes she actually works! She was a fashion designer and sent most of her creations to the biggest, most expensive department stores such as Barney's, Bergdorff Goodman, Bloomingdale's, Saks, etc. Even if she was shit-faced drunk or drugged out of her mind, she would always get up at the ass-crack of dawn to get into the office and sew up some designs.

Darien moaned and groaned as he stretched himself out of bed and walked out to the kitchen. Sure enough right beside the coffee pot was the package that he had been informed about. Typical Serena. She had always been sneaky, leaving things right where he would find them. It often made him wonder – even to this day – whether or not he actually lost something or if she had secretly stolen it.

He unwrapped the parcel after pouring himself a black cup of cinnamon flavored coffee. He lifted the top off of the box and took out a DVD. He popped it into the player that was connected to the kitchen flat screen tv. They had one installed so Adrianna could cook and watch what the steps were on the Food Network.… Although the woman had never used the stove in her life, so it was an odd adornment to their kitchen.

On the screen popped up some flashy lettering that said, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Useless!" A narrator that sounded like Robin Leach – most likely was – started to explain the images that came to view with some pop background music to go along with it. Most of the objects he was talking about, Darien had already stolen once or twice during his career such as dress that Marie Antoinette had worn before her death, a golden Buddha sculpture that dated back to 12th century, and then of course a Picasso painting that had been famously reported as stolen recently (although that wasn't his work; he's more careful than that).

The finale turned out to be something that he _hadn't_ stolen or even _dreamed_ of stealing; the Kohinoor diamond. It was a famous jewel that was originally discovered in India, but the ownership has been fought over by many from Brits to Shahs. Currently, it was stationed in England at the London Tower; however people are still in uproar that it belongs back to India since the British forcefully took control over their land years ago. There was also a curse supposedly on the large diamond which stated that only women could posses the gem; men who have had it, have befallen many misfortunes … supposedly.

After learning about the diamond and all of its benefits and flaws, Darien grabbed hold of his phone and called Serena. She answered with a bubbly tone.

"So what do you think?" she asked.

"I know we talked about doing this job before, but you can't be serious…"

"I am! I've been asked by high up officials from India to Afghanistan to steal it and return it to its rightful owner. It pays plenty!"

"Do you know what the repercussions are if we end up doing this?"

"Millions – no wait! Billions of dollars?"

"Seriously, someone is bound to notice! Plus, what about the high stakes security? I'm certain we can't get in there," he argued.

"You don't remember our last few heists together, do you?" she replied sarcastically.

"Serena, those were in miniscule galleries, easy access museums. The jewels weren't as upscale as this one."

"You know you want to do this."

"Sere—"

"This _has_ to get you out of your retirement!" she whined. "If not for the fame and glory of it all, then for the challenge!"

"We could get killed."

"Fun to think about, isn't it?"

"I'm about to get married!" Darien yelled. "Why aren't you listening to me?"

"I _am_ listening and all I'm hearing are excuses!" she screamed. "Look, you have a few months until you throw your whole life away and become the lap dog of whatever her name is."

"Adrianna."

"Whatever. She's just a giant dollar sign to you. Anyways, after this, I promise to never bother you again! I swear! But I can't do this without you…" There was a long pause and then she finished, "I want an answer by midnight."

With that said, she hung up without giving him a chance to ask for more details. Looking at the clock, he realized he had twelve hours to revel in his racing mind and make a decision. This could be the biggest heist known to mankind … it was tempting to say the least. So Darien thought about it in the shower, as he got dress, while taking the slow moving elevator down to the lobby, then out the door, around the corner, down a bunch of New York City blocks (so miles practically) and then he made it Central Park. He walked around that huge landmark for hours and hours until he realized he hadn't eaten and the sun was now going down. He bought a hot dog at a vendor and returned home as slowly as he could. He bought a bottle of Crown Royale on his way back to his penthouse, but didn't open it. Instead he just stared at it while listening to classical music. Strange, right? Why spend so much money on great booze and not even take a sip? He bought it in case he was going to accept the job. If he didn't end up taking it, he would just give it away to someone bum on the street. He took a deep breath, snatched his phone off of the table and at 11:59 pm, he texted this statement:

"I'm in."

At the stroke of midnight he popped open the bottle and started to pour himself a few shots, cheers-ing to the fireplace in front of him. What did this fool get himself into?

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**Please review! ^_^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! I've been an awful updater! I apologize! I have a job, an internship, and university classes. The spare time I have is usually split up as follows: studying, eating, sleeping, and writing. I hope you all can forgive me.**

**Thank you for your patience! You will be rewarded!**

**PS: I didn't proof read it as well as I should have. I was in a rush to get it posted so forgive me for grammar mistakes!**

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**Chapter 2: Just Take This Photo from My Hands**

Darien shook his head as he wondered what he was doing. He was waiting in the giant foyer of Serena's mansion. It was a room that could be filed as a house to be quite honest. He swiped his fingers along the mahogany table and then bent over to sniff the freshly picked white and pink roses that were exploding out of a vase. Footsteps could be heard off in the distance, but he ignored it, knowing that she would approach him. Sure enough, the tall, slender blonde entered the foyer and gestured for him to follow her into the even larger living room with floor-to-ceiling windows that brought in the spring sunlight. He sat down on the white leather couch and gazed up at the huge flat screen television that was showing a guided tour of the United Kingdom.

"So…" he started.

"Do you have your things packed?" she asked as she reached over for her cup of coffee.

"No," he answered. "I haven't even met with the team yet, let alone start thinking of packing. I said I'm in which means I need all the information and I need to know the first steps."

"Ladies!" Serena shouted over her shoulder.

Within the next minute or so came Lita from the kitchen, Ami from her personal den, and Rei from her meditation room. They all sat on the couch with Darien and Serena, ready for their discussion.

"Ami, go! Explain!" Serena commanded, snapping her fingers at the blue haired girl.

"We're going to fly across the pond to England where we will stay with our fellow colleague and mentor—"

"Claus?" he interrupted. "We're going to see _Claus_? You're joking?"

Claus was the man who had basically taken Darien in and taught him everything he knew. When he was a young boy in New York City, he would often ditch his prep school classes and just go strolling around Central Park. That's where he met the older man. He was dressed up as a hobo playing chess for money, betting anyone that they couldn't beat him. Darien, learning how to cheat at an early age, was able to beat Claus in ten minutes flat. When the elder man found out about the cheating afterwards, he commended Darien. Ever since, he had taken him under his wing and trained him to be the best thief he could possibly be.

"Anyways, we'll meet with Claus, stay with him and explain our plan to him," she continued.

"Which I'm betting he will shoot down," Lita quipped.

"Why do you say that?" Darien asked.

"Because it's not well thought out," she answered.

"Yes it is!" Ami argued.

"Please! I've seen better plans in Mission Impossible movies!" she scoffed.

"What's the plan?" he pressed on.

"Well, there's a certain time that we can get into the room without looking like tourists and that's when the queen starts off parliament for its new term. A few weeks before, there's a man who goes into the chamber, retrieves the jewels and has them polished, cleaned, and makes sure it fits the royal woman," Rei explained. "Ami wants us to use Claus to dress up like this specific man to retrieve the crown and remove the jewels from it. The crown that the queen uses doesn't have the Kohinoor diamond; the crown that does is considered retired. It was apart of a brooch originally worn by Queen Victoria given to her by Prince Albert. After her death it was placed in a diamond crown for Queen Alexandra. The crown was used for coronations up until Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. It was then placed on her coffin."

"Is it still there?" Darien asked.

"No," she continued, "it's in the Tower of London in a case that can only be opened by a certain key which is held by the man that Ami wants Claus to dress up as."

"Why is everyone so unsure of this plan? We have the best technology to complete this assignment!" Ami exclaimed.

"Because it'll probably get us arrested … at best," Serena murmured behind her cup of coffee.

"Once we get to England and meet with Claus, we can figure out whether or not this is a horrible idea," Lita said as she leaned her temple against her closed fist.

"Alright, you guys are dismissed," Serena stated as she stood up to her feet and strolled idly into the kitchen.

Lita followed her only to find that the soufflé she was making had overflowed and was now filling up the oven like a giant blob monster. She sighed and turned the burner off with a lazy hand. Crossing her arms over her chest she turned around to face Serena.

"I have a feeling that our mission is going to end up like this soufflé," she said.

"Overwhelming?" Serena asked.

"No; a disaster," she answered.

Darien entered the kitchen and shoved his hands into his pockets as he said, "Well I'm going home. I should start packing. You were so insistent on leaving immediately…"

"I still am," Serena retorted. "Don't think that just because you have all of the information now that we'll wait for your brain to catch up with your feet. I want to leave the moment you're done getting your things together."

"Since when do _I_ take order from _you_?"

"Since you agreed to this mission."

"I'll return when I have all of my things in order. This includes me speaking to my fiancée. She has a right to know where I am."

"In that case I'm going _with_ you to pack," she declared.

"What?" he exclaimed.

"You heard me. You're going to need someone to back you up when you give some outlandish excuse to your fiancée. You're an awful liar Darien and thinking on your toes has never been your strong suit," she grinned malevolently.

"You haven't worked with me for quite some time. I could have very well changed especially with this large lie of a life," he replied.

"I don't even believe you _now_…"

Much to his dismay, Serena didn't give up easily and ended up driving with him to his penthouse. He was annoyed the whole cab ride there, walk into the building, and elevator trip up. His left eye kept twitching incessantly as he thought about everything that could possibly go wrong. He took a deep breath before they entered into his penthouse cautiously. Darien exhaled with relief, but almost too soon; there was a rustling noise in the back bathroom. This was the cherry to this god-awful sundae – his fiancée was home. Shit.

"Hi honey!" she greeted happily with her brown eyes flashing toward Serena defensively as she breezed out of the room.

Adrianna was short in comparison to Darien, but then again who wasn't – the man was over six feet tall. She was slender, fit, and almost sickly in how perfect she looked. Her smile glowed that terrible white color that looked unnatural in the sunlight. Her auburn hair was tied up in French twist that clearly hadn't been done by her, but by a set of professional hands. She had high cheek bones that had been injected with butt fat, her tight forehead that had been stabbed repeatedly with poison to remove wrinkles, and her skin had been painted with a thick layer of make-up. Whatever attracted Darien to this weird little Upper Eastside Barbie doll must have been completely superficial. Serena was determined to figure out what it was.

"Who's your friend?" Adrianna asked sweetly … too sweetly; like the corner piece of cake with too much of that fake white icing – it's not even butter cream frosting!

"This is my old friend Serena," he smiled.

"Oh! The one who worked with you in India?" she beamed, holding her perfectly manicured hand out. Adrianna was strategic in how she handled herself toward another woman; she was sure to extend her left hand adorned with her engagement ring. She was claiming her territory like a cat … or a skunk.

Serena did her best to hide her disgust behind a well-acted smile and shook her hand, "Yes I am! It's such a pleasure to meet you Adrianna. I've read a lot about you in the letters he's sent."

"Letters?" she inquired, her face flickering for a split-second with distress as she turned slightly toward Darien.

"Oh yes! I have been sending letters back and forth to Serena to make sure that everything is running smoothly at the hospital," he smiled. "There's never a stable enough internet connection there so writing letters is the best way possible to get the word out."

"I see," she sighed, her body relaxing. She glanced back her competition, "So what brings you here?"

"I'm afraid she's here to whisk me away my love!" Darien exclaimed with a strange tone in his voice that Serena only slightly recognized. She continued to listen to him in order to understand why his register had changed considerably, "I must go back to India and help build another hospital. They need me on this committee. They'll be completely useless without me."

That's when Serena caught it; he used that tone to sound like he was a rich snob back in the old heist days. It usually got most of the high up people at parties to be on his side. When he used this façade, he was never questioned, bullied, or seen a suspect. Serena knew Darien was always able to distract them; she was just never around to see it in action. Watching it right in front of her at that moment made her stomach turn to knots. She was beginning to feel queasy.

"We need to hurry up Darien," Serena announced. "Our flight leaves soon."

"Right," he nodded. He looked over at Adrianna and asked, "Would you like to help me pack?"

"I'm afraid I don't have the time darling. I have a mani-pedi-botox appointment today. I need to look ravishing for that charity ball tonight," she beamed, flashing her fake white teeth.

"What's the charity for?" Serena asked.

"Children?" she shrugged. "I can't recall. I'm on the committee for so many of these damn things."

"That's my fiancée! Always giving back," Darien smiled as he wrapped his arm around Adrianna's torso and kissed her forehead. She winced at the show of affection that wasn't in her control, but she made sure to keep her lips curved in a positive position; upward. Serena could tell that Adrianna wanted so badly to hold the reigns in this relationship. It was rather sad that she had no idea that this relationship was a complete sham.

After an awkward silence, Darien cleared his throat and then pulled away from his fake fiancée. He led the way to the master bedroom with Serena following him. He started to pack a duffle bag filled with clothes he would be wearing on the trip.

Serena leaned over to his ear and whispered, "Aren't you going to pack _other_ necessities? You know … rope, guns, knives … bandages?"

"First off, you know how high security is in the states now; I'll never be able to get away with that. And second, what makes you think I still own that stuff?" he hissed.

Serena stepped back and listened for the front door to shut. Once she heard it, she spun around on the ball of her foot and trotted over to the large, walk-in closet. She strolled over to Darien's side of the room and pushed back the rack of shirts. She examined the wall behind his hung up clothing and sure enough found an old, tattered Nirvana poster that he had used countless times to cover up his hiding spots. She took it down gently and discovered a square opening that he had carved out in the wall. Pushing past the cobwebs that had developed, Serena pulled out and tossed back over to Darien a thick nylon rope, a handgun, a dagger given to him by his mentor Claus, another pearl and opal dagger that _she_ had given him, and … well this was strange. She pulled out a frayed Polaroid picture that had been taken just over a year ago after one of their highest grossing heists; it was a candid picture of Darien holding Serena and staring into her eyes as though he was going to kiss her right then. This was their last job together…

She turned around with the picture still in hand and her eyes glued to it, "No bandages, huh?"

Darien's face grew red with embarrassment and he took one single stride across the room to snatch the photo out of her hand. She gasped at the sudden movement and suddenly felt like she had encroached on a part of his life that she shouldn't have. Would this make things awkward between them?

"This is the only bandage I've needed," he said, gesturing to the picture in his hand. "Are you done nitpicking?"

"Yes," she replied solemnly.

"Good. Now put these back," he ordered, pointing to the gun, daggers, and rope on the ground.

"No," she argued. "We have a private jet. You won't be bothered by security. So please put those weapons away. _All_ of them." She walked out of the room in a huff as she stated over her shoulder, "I'll be waiting for you downstairs."

Darien flinched when he heard the front door slam and then he leaned against the wall of his closet, sliding down the carpeted ground. His eyes drifted down to the mangled photo in his hand. He remembered that exact moment. Serena had been so excited that they had completed this unimaginable, impossible mission. She popped open a bottle of champagne, sprayed everyone with the foam, and proceeded to kiss everyone on the cheek, leaving dripping red marks on their skin. When she approached Darien though, he was grinning too much for her to place a proper kiss on his cheek; it would have creased thanks to his cute dimples. She ended up cupping his face and staring into his eyes for a good thirty seconds. It was during that time that Claus had taken a picture of the whole group. Right after the photo was snapped loudly, Darien had been brought back down to earth and pulled away from Serena … for good.

Or so he thought. Here he was, in his closet packing away for another mission that he had been talked into. Would he ever get away from this addiction? From this haunting? His eyes narrowed at the picture in his hand and he was tempted to burn it into ashes, but he resisted. It was the only memory of being close to something real.

Thus, he got up off the ground and started to shove clothing, toiletries, and his weapons into his duffle bag. Once Darien was all packed, he took one final look at the loving photo and then placed it gently into a side compartment on the inner lining of his bag; that way it would be safe and he would be able to find it anytime he wanted. Not that he needed to…. The memory would forever be burned into his mind.

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**Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey all! Thanks so much for keeping up with this story! Glad you're all enjoying it!**

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**Chapter 3: Open Your Eyes**

Darien downed the last little bit of his mini bottle of alcohol as the plane took off into the air. He couldn't believe that Serena had talked him into this whole situation. Why? Why did he agree to do this job? It would never work…Claus would surely smack it down the moment they explained it to him. Taking a deep breath, he just leaned back in his seat and let the warm tingle of the alcohol take over. That is until Serena came back to her place right next to him. Sitting beside her was a total buzz kill.

"Stop it," she growled.

"Stop what?" he asked in a snappy tone.

"Your leg. Your leg is shaking," she pointed out.

He looked down and saw that his leg was indeed shaking uncontrollably. He never ever noticed this whenever it happened. Back in the day, she would point it out to him every time he did this. It usually made him roll his eyes, but now he just saw the remark as a reminder of what his life was like before he "retired". It made him miss her…miss this.

"I don't know why you get so nervous before a job," she murmured as she opened up her magazine.

"Well this one is just god awful," he whispered harshly.

"Preach it to Claus when we get there," Serena replied, signaling with a wave of her hand that she was going to ignore him from this point forward.

"I can't believe I'm back here," he sighed.

Serena narrowed her eyes and slapped her magazine in her lap as she said to him, "Excuse me? You made the decision to come along. Granted, I pushed you in the right direction, but still … you did it yourself. You could be at that goddamn charity ball for children or Alzheimer or AIDs or whatever it was your fiancée was doing."

"Don't talk about her like you know her," he ordered, straightening up in the leather seat. When a flight attendant walked by, he stopped him and asked for a tumbler of whiskey.

"But I already _do_ know her," she grinned devilishly.

"Oh?"

"She's the heiress of the huge Juicy Couture empire. She used to have a one of a kind diamond heart shaped lock and key charm bracelet … then it disappeared," Serena smiled as she lifted her arm up and gestured to the glittering piece of jewelry on her wrist.

"You bitch! She's been looking for that for months!" he exclaimed, trying to snatch it off of her, but she was too quick.

"Whatever. She can have another one made and knowing how close you two are, she probably already did and you just haven't bothered to look," she replied.

"I know her plenty well," Darien insisted as the steward came back and handed him his drink.

"What's her favorite color? Who's the celebrity crush she would bang if she could? What's her deepest, darkest secret? Does she want kids? If so how many?" she shot out.

"Erm … pink. John Hamm. She wants one kid; a daughter," he stumbled. "A-and she's scared to get married … e-especially after seeing her parents go through a divorce."

Serena stared at him for a moment. He could see her start to fume from the inside and then without notice, she leapt up and stormed into the mini bathroom. Darien quickly downed his beverage as Mina strolled across the plane and sat down next to him. She was always the one to do damage control.

"You're an idiot," she mused with a slight giggle at the end of her sentence.

"What? Why? I answered her questions!" he whined.

"No, you didn't," Rei said from across the aisle, shaking her head.

"All of those answers were from Serena," Ami chimed in.

"No they weren't," he protested.

"Clearly we know her better than you do," Mina scoffed. "Don't you remember that night? Lots of alcohol was involved. Maybe a little hair from dog will help you." She turned back around and gestured to the flight attendant and requested one more drink for him. While he waited for his whiskey to come to him, he tried to think about what night she was talking about…

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_Giggles filled the room as Darien finished off his beverage. His face was turning a bit pink not only from alcohol, but from admitting to the group of women before him that he had a teddy bear he slept with regularly._

_"Okay! Okay! Serena! Your turn!" Lita shouted._

_"Umm … truth!" she decided giddily._

_"What's your worst fear?" Rei asked quietly as she leaned against the couch and curled her legs up underneath her._

_"Oooh … that's a good one," Ami nodded in between her hiccups._

_Serena thought about it for a moment and ran her finger along the edge of her glass as stared off into space. She took a sip of her drink and the cleared her throat before answering._

_"My worst fear … is marriage," she answered._

_"Marriage?" Mina exclaimed, trying to not spit out her drink._

_"I'm absolutely terrified of commitment," she shrugged. "If my only stable idea of a relationship is supposed to be my parents … well …"_

_She drifted off, but no one needed her to finish her sentence. They all knew the story. She had been about nine or ten years old when her parents got a divorce. She was forced by the tricky courts to live with her mother which was a complete mistake. The woman was a complete mess from her break up and was constantly drowning her sorrows in hard liquor and even harder drugs. Then one day, Serena noticed that her mother hadn't gotten up to burn her breakfast as usual. She went into her bedroom only to find her blue tinted body sprawled out on the queen size bed. That image stuck with her for the rest of her life and was the immediate picture that would come up when she thought about marriage. It was heartbreaking._

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Darien snapped out of his daze and shook his head which made Lita comment, "Oh! Look! He remembered!"

The rest of the girls chuckled in response which came to a quick stop at the sound of the bathroom door opening. Serena walked out of the tiny room with her face flushed red, riddled with embarrassment. She took a few strides across the plane to where she had been sitting previously and snatched up her magazine. Darien reached out and grabbed her wrist, which made her yank it out of his grip and growl at him, "_Don't_ touch me!"

Darien watched as she positioned herself in a seat that was as far away from him as possible. This was ridiculous and she knew it, but she was too stubborn to admit it.

"Serena—"

"Not another word!" she interrupted.

A tense silence filled the airplane with pressure that wasn't needed at all.

Rei sighed and looked over at Ami, "How much longer until we land?"

"About four hours," she answered.

"Great … _great_," she whispered sarcastically.

When the plane finally landed, they did their same old routine they did every time they entered a country; they got a cab, notified Claus where they were, and then headed off to a designated hotel. There they had each reserved a room under their fake names. When Darien got up to the desk however, he was disappointed to find that they hadn't saved a room for him at all.

"You're sure?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yes sir. I do not see a room for you under the name Malcom Muzaki," the desk clerk shrugged. "I apologize. I would offer you a room, but with the royal events that are going on soon, all of our rooms are booked."

"Shit…" he breathed.

"You can stay with one of us," Mina suggested. She waved goodnight to the woman and gestured that everyone follow her into the lobby so that they could figure this out. They circled up and Mina said, "Why don't you stay with Lita?"

"I snore … very loudly," she blushed.

"Okay…um … Ami?"

"I have way too much researching to get done tonight," she protested. "I won't have any of my lights off and my typing will probably disrupt his sleep."

With a roll of her eyes she said, "What about Serena?"

"Are you out of your mind?" she shouted.

"Well he's not sleeping with me! You know how much of a bed hog I am!" Mina argued.

Serena didn't stick around to fight any further though. She spun around on her heel and sauntered off toward the elevators. When the group called after her, she flipped them off without so much as turning around to look at them. They all groaned in unison and Mina stamped her foot in protest.

"Just stay with me," Rei said. "I won't mind."

"Are you sure?" Darien asked.

"It's really not that big of a deal," she replied, rolling her eyes.

The group followed her lead and ambled over to the elevator. They all stared up at the glowing numbers inside the golden cage, waiting for the top floor to finally light up. When they had reached their destination, they strolled down the long hallway in order to find their rooms. Not surprisingly, their rooms were all next to each other. Rei and Darien stopped at a door that was next to one without an owner; he assumed this was Serena's. He took a deep breath as he followed the raven haired woman into her sleeping quarters and was shocked to discover that the digs were pretty lavish. There was a nice pull out sofa bed for Darien to sleep on so that he didn't have to encroach on Rei's own sleeping quarters.

"I'm sorry about this," he apologized.

"Please. It can happen to the best of us," Rei smiled.

"No, not about this. I mean I'm sorry for upsetting Serena like I did," he replied.

"Again, it can happen to anyone. But don't you think you should say that to her?" she asked.

Darien ran a hand through his ebony, shaggy locks as he plopped down on the cream colored couch, "I suppose so, but how do you suggest I go about that?"

"Beats me. You know how temperamental she is."

He nodded and then began unpacking some of his clothing. He paused in the middle of removing his garments when he came upon the infamous photo of him and Serena. That moment was what started this whole situation … those damn feelings that had bubbled up suddenly. They were suddenly closer than that brother-sister relationship they had established in the beginning of their burglar circle. He shoved the picture in his back pocket and started to get ready for bed. There was a lot to be done and not enough time to do it all in so sleep was a necessity at this point.

* * *

Darien awoke in the middle of the night not to a sound, but to a scent. The smell of cigarettes hit his nose suddenly and he sat up in his pull out bed. Rei was still asleep soundlessly across from him. He threw the covers off of his body and strolled silently over to a door that he assumed led into Serena's hotel room; he was right. He peeked inside and found her sitting on her balcony, smoking. She was curled up on a black iron chair in just her silk white negligee. The moon trickled down from the sky to light up her golden locks that were let loose from their uptight captivity.

"Can I bum one of those?" he asked quietly, trying not to startle her.

She glanced at him lazily and held out her pack of cigarettes to him. He shut the door behind himself and jogged across the room to the outside balcony. There he lit up a white stick of cancer and inhaled the delicious taste.

"It's been a long time since I've had one of these," he exhaled.

"It brings back memories, doesn't it?" she asked.

"Our many smoke breaks together … sneaking off down secret paths so we weren't discovered when we were supposed to be doing a job," he smirked.

"You can't finish a job without a smoke break," she snorted. "We even wanted to make a contract that everyone had to sign and be in agreement with."

"Oh yeah! 'Serena and Darien's smoke break clause'!" he laughed. "Ami tore that thing right up."

"She's the medical assistant, that's why," Serena mused. "She doesn't want us to kill ourselves slowly while in the process of a heist. Our missions are dangerous enough as it is."

There was a short pause as the two of them sucked idly on their cigarettes. Darien narrowed his eyes at Serena as he said, "I'm sorry about today…that was a shit move."

"It was an accident," she replied, wafting away his apology with her hand.

"I … I don't want you to be mad at me during this excursion," he stammered.

"I just don't understand why you decided to jump into a relationship with that woman. You have plenty of money to take care of yourself for _years_. Why her?"

He thought about it for a moment, taking a few puffs of his cigarette and then answered her, "Because she's simple. She's not a complicated person at all. She's—"

"Easy," Serena interrupted.

"In a way … yes I suppose so," he said as he leaned against the railing.

"What? Was I too complicated?" she snapped.

"Now you're twisting my words," Darien fought. "Don't do that."

"Admit it!" she yelled.

"Yes, you are a little bit complicated, but that's not why I didn't pursue you," he declared as he rubbed his temples; he was starting to get a throbbing pain that he usually got when starting a fight with her. "I didn't want to start anything with you because … what if we ended up together and then suddenly we have to do a job?"

"So you find this scenario much better?" she asked in a mocking tone.

"No I don't. It's just … I couldn't bear the thought of losing you. If I grew more attached to you … I … I really have no answer other than that I would be heartbroken if anything ever happened to you," he whispered as he stabbed his cigarette out on the edge of the railing.

Serena stood up to her feet and searched his face for any bit of insincerity, but she couldn't find any. She tilted her head and rolled her weight back and forth from the balls of her feet to the heels.

"Are you going to go through with it?" she asked.

"Through with what?" he replied, lifting his gaze to match hers.

"With the wedding? The marriage?"

He shook his head, "I don't think so … but who knows. After this mission I might change my mind."

She pursed her lips over the last bit of her cigarette and took in the rest of the cloudy smoke into her lungs. This ultimately made her cough a bit uncontrollably. She dropped her cigarette butt as she leaned over her knees and tried to catch her breath. Darien rubbed her arching back for comfort, but it only made her shiver. He felt her skin rise with goose bumps and immediately removed his touch. She cleared her throat one last time and stood up straight, staring into his grey-blue orbs with tears rimming the edge of her eyes. He didn't know if these tears were from the coughing or if they were from some emotional turmoil she was going through.

"Will you spend the night?" she asked him.

"Why?"

"I need someone to hold me."

"Do you really think that's wise? Especially given what I just confessed to you?"

"Do you _really_ want to sleep in the same room as Rei?" she retorted with a cocked eyebrow.

"Touché…but… I should really go to be on my own for tonight," he hesitated.

He stood up to his feet and stretched a bit in the air. He could hear church bells off in the distance chiming in the time; 3 a.m. Darien looked back down at Serena whose glow he had been attracted to minutes before had dimmed down considerably. She started to pull out another cigarette as he left the balcony and walked through her room to get back to the place he was sharing with Rei. He turned back around to glance at her; she was staring at him all the way out. He sighed and did his best to resist her eyes as he strolled away and shut the door behind himself. He ambled back to the sofa bed where he would be residing for the next for weeks … if it in fact was going to take them that long.

* * *

**Please review! Next chapter will involve Claus! Yay! Ya'll get to meet him finally!**


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